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Using additive manufacturing—aka 3D printing—Princeton University researchers have printed LED lights directly into a hard contact lens to prove that active electronics of varied materials can be printed into complex shapes.

Bird advocacy groups estimate that hundreds of millions of birds die every year from bird-on-glass collisions in the U.S. alone, but ceramic frit glass and UV-patterned glass can help birds see the glass to protect them from collisions.

An artist’s representation of the proposed on-chip laser design, created via transfer printing of photonic crystal between layers of silicon nanomembrane. Credit: Hongjun Yang. Check ’em out: Printed photonic crystal mirrors shrink on-chip lasers down to size Electrical engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Texas at Arlington have devised a new laser…